I am working on a Holiday Wine Report covering all things Kosher and not, all things champagne and sparkling…throwing in some Bordeaux in the mix. I will take any reader suggestions on that but my deadline is in two days – so get on it!

I also attended an event at Vino 100 that benefited Circle of Hope, a local charity whose mission is to financially and emotionally assist uninsured and underinsured individuals with breast cancer in the Santa Clarita Valley. (http://www.circleofhopeinc.org/)

They served Hope wines, appetizers and helped me fill the balance of gifts still to check off my holiday list.

The crowd of well-wishers were thrilled with a wine that had the same belief system: 50% of their sales profits go to charity. The ones served today, of course, went to breast cancer research. (http://www.hopewine.com/about_us.html) A decent 101 wine, and a great gift for those with charitable souls, most found the Shiraz quite palatable. I bought a few as thank yous for the wonderful ladies that helped me with my first big at-home tasting that benefited my local Unitarian Universalist church this past October.

(One of the guests let me photograph her hot-off-the-tattoo-parlor grape bunch design she had on her foot. An area that looked like a painful choice. But who am I to complain as to what we wine freaks will do for our passions?)

Lastly today I have to tell you that I couldn’t wait to watch the countdown of the top ten wines of the year in my e-mails from the Wine Spectator magazine. I have bought as much of the inexpensive #10 wine: Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County 2007, 93 points, 68,000 cases made that my local Vino 100 could sell me and the last 3 bottles of the more expensive #8 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2005, 96 points 15,000 cases made, from Valencia Wine Company. I’m on the lookout for any of the others, so feel free to let me know if you’ve seen them offered locally. The list, which goes up to the 100 best wines tasted in 2008, can be found here: http://top100.winespectator.com/